Re: Generic "he" summary

[Beverly Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL>]

In response to the following from Richard Mateosian:

 >>4. In some cases, generic "he" gives prose an immediacy that no readily
 >>   available reformulation can match
 >>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 >>This is a subjective matter, but I don't really see a noticable difference
 >>in immediacy among the following:

 >>When a doctor hears his patient's pleas, what is he to do? Where will he
 >>find the answer? In his training? In his faith in God? In his innermost
 >>soul? When he faces the patient, he faces himself.

 >>When doctors hear their patients' pleas, what are they to do? Where will
 >>they find the answer? In their training? In their faith in God? In their
 >>innermost soul? When they face the patient, they face themselves.

Jean D. Ichbiah <ichbiah -at- JDI -dot- TIAC -dot- NET> wrote:

> Really? You  do not see the difference? Literally, the second is collective
> and applies to several doctors receiving several pleas - not to one  doctor
> receiving one  plea.

============
Jean,

  I think what Richard posted is out of context. I recognize the
doctor/patient examples from a similar thread several months
ago--possibly even on a different list. In context, the examples
were referring to *any* doctor in general; so, it would be up to
the author whether to use the singular example or the plural
example. So either one would work.

  Seeing them as you are, for the first time and out of context,
they do indeed convey something different!

Bev
   =*=   Beverly Parks -- bparks -at- huachuca-emh1 -dot- army -dot- mil   =*=
   =*=     Huachuca : That's pronounced "wah-CHEW-ka"     =*=
   =*= "Unless otherwise stated, all comments are my own. =*=
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